A murder inquiry was underway today after police in the Dominican Republic found the body of a missing British best-selling author.
A local detective confirmed ‘several people’ including Lindsay de Feliz’s 50-year-old Dominican husband Danilo and her stepson, Dani Alberto Feliz Martinez, 29, were under arrest.
Unconfirmed reports said she had been strangled. Her body was found buried in woods near her home in Moncion in the north-east of the sunshine island.
Lindsay de Feliz (pictured) has reportedly been found strangled and buried in woods near her home in the Dominican Republic
The grim discovery was made just after midday local time yesterday following a massive search involving friends, police and civil protection workers.
Earlier in the day pals of the Wolverhampton University-educated expat, who wrote two books about her experiences in the Caribbean including her recovery from a near-fatal shooting by a burglar, had offered a reward for information leading to her discovery.
Animal lover Lindsay, who worked for a string of financial service firms as a marketing director in the UK before travelling the world as a scuba diving instructor and settling in the Dominican Republic, described herself on social media as a writer, blogger, researcher and translator.
A local detective confirmed ‘several people’ including Lindsay de Feliz’s 50-year-old Dominican husband Danilo (left) were under arrest
One of the books she wrote after emigrating nearly 20 years ago, an Amazon best-seller called ‘What About Your Saucepans’, detailed how she walked away from marriage and a dream lifestyle of expensive holidays and designer cars in Britain to pursue her scuba diving dream.
She also told in the book how she was shot in a bungled 2006 robbery.
She said last year in an interview about her new life in the sun: ‘I came here for six months and ended up staying.
‘I married a Dominican and I was working as a scuba diving instructor and everything was perfect until I was shot through the throat one day during a burglary at my house.
One of the books she wrote, an Amazon best-seller called ‘What About Your Saucepans’, detailed how she walked away from marriage for her scuba diving dream
‘That meant I had to give up my career diving and take a different career which was writing.
‘Following that my husband ran for local mayor and we were involved in all sorts of political corruption and shenanigans.
‘We ended up fleeing for our lives and we now live on a mountain 1500ft up in the north-west where we keep goats and chickens and dogs and life is very calm.’
She added of the shooting: ‘When I was shot in the throat the bullet went through my lungs and I couldn’t breathe.
‘A big fear was that I was going to die which I very nearly did. I was taken to hospital by friends on the back of a motorbike. I have a blank for around six hours afterwards.’
Lindsay, whose husband Danilo Feliz has three sons from a previous relationship, told last month on an Internet blog how he was working hard after qualifying as a lawyer.
She said: ‘Many of the cases he is working on involve expats, and so I find myself working as a paralegal, explaining everything to the clients, and acting as a bridge between the two.’
She added: ‘A lot of my work involves helping foreign ladies who are having cultural issues with their Dominican boyfriends, finances or husbands and I also help them with divorces when things don’t go well.
‘I have heard so many sad stories of things that don’t go well in this country and overseas with people trying to cope with difficult situations.’
In another YouTube interview titled ‘Escape the Rat Race to Pursue Your Dream’, she revealed: ‘In the UK I was earning a quarter of a million dollars a year, maybe half a million in bonuses.
‘I had so much money I didn’t know what to do with it. To cut my hair every six weeks was like 600 to 700 dollars. It was peanuts.
‘I should have been happy but when I woke up in the morning I wasn’t springing out of bed and the only time I was really happy was when I was scuba diving.’
Lindsay, thought to be in her early sixties and from Cambridgeshire originally, was last seen around 3.30pm on Tuesday getting off a bus outside her home.
The grim discovery was made just after midday local time yesterday following a massive search involving friends, police and civil protection workers
A spokesman for the local police force admitted before her body was found they were ‘very concerned’ about her wellbeing, and revealed her husband was being questioned after being arrested as a ‘matter of routine’ as a massive search for her got underway.
A colleague, speaking after she was found dead, confirmed: ‘The body we have found is that of the missing British woman.
‘It was discovered behind her home. She was the victim of a homicide. Several people including her husband are under arrest but we are still investigating and cannot yet say who we think is responsible.’
Friends have paid tribute to her on social media.
One said in a message by a photo of a black ribbon: ‘This is shocking and devastating. Lindsay you will be missed.
‘You were such a beautiful person with a heart full of gold. RIP my friend.’
Another added: ‘This made me sick to my stomach. Rest in peace Lindsay. Life has not treated you fair. I cannot believe this is happening.’
Respected Dominican Republic newspaper Hoy reported today on its website one of Danilo’s adult sons, named as Dani Alberto Feliz Martinez, 29, was another of the detainees. It named the third as a man called Aquilino Rosario Sanchez, 37.
It said: ‘The police believe they are responsible for the disappearance and death of the woman’, adding: ‘Her body was found buried two feet underground in a wooded area, wrapped in black plastic bags, two used for dog food and a yellow sheet.
‘Her head was in another black bag with tape around her neck.’
Another local paper quoted a local state prosecutor called Sumaya Rodriguez saying Lindsay’s husband had been arrested ‘as the principal suspect in her death.’
Police in the Dominican Republic have 72 hours after arrest to hold people before the Public Prosecutor’s Office has to decide whether to accuse them of any crimes.